24 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

Author Caleb Carr was commissioned by the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write this new Sherlock Holmes adventure. Holmes, his brother Mycroft, and the faithful Watson join forces to solve a double murder in an Edinburgh palace that seems eerily like a murder that took place 300 years ago. Are the rumors of a ghost possibly real? Who of the Queen's supposedly loyal servants can truly be trusted? Carr writes this one in the manner of Doyle, so it's unlike his earlier historical mysteries, and an easier read, if you don't get bogged down in the archaic language.

Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft, adn Watson investigate a pair of gruesome murders at Queen Victoria's Royal Palace of Holyrood in Edinburgh. The audio version is nicely done and the historical detail in the narrative is excellent.

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES...
Caleb Carr reaches back into the world of opium dens and Jack the Ripper to bring a new tale of the most intriguing of all detectives, Sherlock Holmes...very interesting and lots of historical quality.

Caleb Carr did a good job of writing in Doyle's style. I thought it was ok, the book really wasn't long enough, and to be honest the story was lacking in something. I thought Angel of Darkness, and the Alienist were better works by Carr.

Caleb Carr writes well (The Alienist, etc.) and he does the Holmes canon a nice service in "The Italian Secretary". Set in the castle where Mary, Queen of Scots, and her ladies witnessed the murder of David Rizzio. Holmes and Watson are summoned by Mycroft Holmes to solve a brace of murders. Queen Victoria is in residence, and adding to the complications a clandestine tour of the Rizzio murder site and a mysterious bloodstain that never dries.

From the back of the book:"Caleb Carr's newest tale begins when Sherlock Holmes reveals an encrypted telegram he has recieved to Dr. Watson; the famous detective has been summoned by his brother , Mycroft, a royal advisor, to invesigate a pair of murders that resemble a grisly killing froom three centuries earlier."

From NY Times Review: Any author, who dares to assume that his readers have an attention span that exceeds fifteen or twenty seconds, has succeeded in capturing my attention no matter what the subject pursued. Caleb Carr treats English as if it is tool for the conveyance of precise information and not as if it were a bludgeon to be used to beat the reader into submission. His prose is elegant and precise, with slang terms used to emphasize characterization and to provide particular flavors and tones to conversation.

The narrator is Dr. Watson, not the familiar narrator of most of the Canonical tales, but rather this Dr. Watson is clearly the man who wrote those tales. This is not the hopeless naïf he depicted himself to be, this Watson is bright and thoughtful and a good foil for the genius of Holmes. Yet, under all, he remains the true Victorian gentleman in the best sense of that overworked phrase. He does not comprehend the hubris that constitutes true evil, the sense of self that will not recognize any will but its own. In this, he remains unable to understand Holmes who is well aware of that form of darkness of the soul.

This tale is one that Watson never meant to be published, rather it is a record of events that deserve preservation but are prejudicial to The Crown. It is also a tale of ghosts and murder, with a particularly Holmesian explanation for apparent supernatural events. Even Mycroft is unable to cope and has called Holmes and Watson to investigate murders at Holyrood House, the official residence of Her majesty in Edinburgh. High politics, historical mystery, human greed, departmental machinations and the character of Her Majesty are all combined to present a complex and satisfying new Sherlock Holmes mystery. This story revives the feeling of reading the Canon more than any pastiche I have read (3,000+ and counting), a truly remarkable feat.

This adds a new adventure for Sherlock Holmes. This audio is well done with a great variety of voices utilized. The plot is involved but the historical detail accurate and adds dimension to the story. These audio cassettes listened to only once.

I love Sherlock Holmes books (by Doyle) and supernatural elements in any book. So I thought this would be to my liking. But I never finished it and am now cured of reading Sherlock Holmes pastiches. This was so boring, at least up to the point I read (on their way to Scotland.)

It's been a while since I have read any of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories--I know I read quite a few of them back in the the 70's. I thought Carr did a pretty decent job of portraying Holmes in the vein of Doyle and overall I did like this take on the great detective.

The story starts out when Holmes is cryptically summoned by his brother Mycroft to Scotland to look into the deaths of two men who were working on the restoration of Holyroodhouse, the ancient palace of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland.

Mycroft feels that the killings may be linked to a possible assassination attempt on Queen Victoria by Scottish nationalists. But when Holmes and Watson get to Holyrood, another reason for the murders is soon disclosed which is tied to the murder of David Rizzio, the titular Italian Private Secretary of Mary who was murdered by her jealous husband Darnley in the 16th century. Was Rizzio's spirit haunting Holyrood or did other factors play into the deaths?

...The slaying of David Rizzio, music master and friend to Mary, Queen of Scots, was an extraordinarily brutal and treacherous act---even for a time when brutality and treachery were the order of the day. Now, the ghosts of Holyroodhouse are being reawakened by someone with a diabolical agenda of greed, madness, and terror as Holmes and Watson set out to trap a killer who is eager to rewrite history in blood.

I haven't read this book (too many books to read!) so I can't give my opinion about it. But I do know that Caleb Carr is the author of the international bestseller"The Alienist". The book features Sherlock Holmes and Watson who are requested by Queen Victoria to investigate the mysterious and gruesome deaths of two young men.